Wasiat

Yesterday, I had an interesting discussion with a gentleman who was promoting wasiat for Muslims. I, for one, support wasiat for Muslims as it allow Muslims to be fully prepared for the after life, including, not leaving a mess for their next of kin. I hope that anybody who read this will consider making a wasiat for him- or her-self. The discussion was had in front of a long personal friend of mine who observed the discussion with “pandangan serong”!? [Acah aje]

The question which I posed to the gentleman was: What is your real basis in promoting wasiat for Muslims? His explanation was somewhat like what I have explained earlier. To his response I rejoined: There is a stronger basis which you do not know!

At this point, he was in shock. There he was, trained by a so-called set of Syariah experts and estate planning organization; and a donkey-kong told him that. He’d better believe it.

Lucky for the 3 of us, my friend had a translation of al-Quran. So I explained to him. Ayat 2:177 was somehow followed by 2:180 (blah blah blah) etc etc. His response was, but his Syariah experts did not deem it mandatory to make wasiat. At the end of the discussion, I concluded that our challenge is to highlight these ayats to the ustazs and let them come back to us. After all, we are no experts. But for your benefit, I re-produce the ayats below:

2:177 It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the Allah-fearing.

2:180 : It is prescribed for you, when death approacheth one of you, if he leave wealth, that he bequeath unto parents and near relatives in kindness. (This is) a duty for all those who ward off (evil).

My point in the discussion was, and I still maintain, as I write this, that the duty, as a Muslim, immediately after believing is “to spend out of his substance, out of love for Allah, for your kin” and 2:180 explains that if we leave money, we must make wasiat.

This duty is at minimum, contemporaneous with solat and zakat, if not preceding it (this part I am no expert, of course).

Why am I sharing this with you? Because in clear words Islam demands that we take care of our kin, as we live, and as we leave, too. The words are clear, and if we exercise that duty in compliance with that demand, insyaallah we will be very successful. The fact that some experts did not pay attention to it does not mean that this duty does not exist. This is in fact the demand that moves and spurs the Muslim economy.